Enhanced spin-orbit torques in MnAl/Ta films with improving chemical ordering

We report the enhancement of spin-orbit torques in MnAl/Ta films with improving chemical ordering through annealing. The switching current density is increased due to enhanced saturation magnetization MS and effective anisotropy field HK after annealing. Both damplinglike effective field HD and fieldlike effective field HF have been increased in the temperature range of 50 to 300 K. HD varies inversely with MS in both of the films, while the HF becomes liner dependent on 1/MS in the annealed film. We infer that the improved chemical ordering has enhanced the interfacial spin transparency and the transmitting of the spin current in MnAl layer

Venture Capital Investment and Post-IPO Performance of Entrepreneurial Firms: Evidence from the People's Republic China

We examine the effects of venture capital (VC) investment on the performance (measured by return on assets, return on equity, and Tobin’s Q) and growth (measured by growth of total sales and total number of employees) of entrepreneurial firms in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) after an initial public offering (IPO). Firm-level panel data analysis shows that VC investment contributes to the long-term performance and growth of entrepreneurial firms after an IPO. Meanwhile,we observe a significant and positive relationship between corporate governance of firms and VC investment. However, we do not find that experience or specialization of VC firms influences the effects of venture investment on post-IPO performance or growth of entrepreneurial firms in the PRC.published_or_final_versio

An empirical analysis of strategic contracts

The conference program's website is located at http://editorialexpress.com/conference/ALEA2013/program/ALEA2013.htmlSession 3 (Panel IC): Contracts: Incentives and InnovationThis article investigates the use of strategic contract clauses such as most-favored-customer clauses, rights of first refusal, rights of first offer, first negotiation rights in bio-tech R&D contracts between pharmaceutical firms and bio-tech agents. It is shown that these strategic rights are more likely adopted when potential entry threat from other pharmaceutical firms are larger. This result is consistent with the prediction from the literature: strategic contracts can increase the joint benefit of contracting parties by extracting rent from entrants and/or protect investments by contracting parties. Furthermore, strategic rights and termination rights held by pharmaceutical firms are shown to be substitutes, and the level of substitution is affected by the uncertainty of the R&D activities involved and the previous relationship between contracting parties. These results can be explained by a multi-task theory where bio-tech agents allocate effort between R&D activities specified in contracts and non-contracted R&D activities.postprin

Valosin-containing protein regulates the proteasome-mediated degradation of DNA-PKcs in glioma cells.

DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) has an important role in the repair of DNA damage and regulates the radiation sensitivity of glioblastoma cells. The VCP (valosine-containing protein), a chaperone protein that regulates ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation, is phosphorylated by DNA-PK and recruited to DNA double-strand break sites to regulate DNA damage repair. However, it is not clear whether VCP is involved in DNA-PKcs (DNA-PK catalytic subunit) degradation or whether it regulates the radiosensitivity of glioblastoma. Our data demonstrated that DNA-PKcs was ubiquitinated and bound to VCP. VCP knockdown resulted in the accumulation of the DNA-PKcs protein in glioblastoma cells, and the proteasome inhibitor MG132 synergised this increase. As expected, this increase promoted the efficiency of DNA repair in several glioblastoma cell lines; in turn, this enhanced activity decreased the radiation sensitivity and prolonged the survival fraction of glioblastoma cells in vitro. Moreover, the VCP knockdown in glioblastoma cells reduced the survival time of the xenografted mice with radiation treatment relative to the control xenografted glioblastoma mice. In addition, the VCP protein was also downregulated in ~25% of GBM tissues from patients (WHO, grade IV astrocytoma), and the VCP protein level was correlated with patient survival (R(2)=0.5222, P<0.05). These findings demonstrated that VCP regulates DNA-PKcs degradation and increases the sensitivity of GBM cells to radiation